We can't get fooled again...

As we struggle to make sense of the chaos spreading through the Middle East, the NYT reminds us [w]hile Lebanon is now trying to pick up the pieces, Iraq is falling apart at an accelerating pace. The terrible carnage suffered in Lebanon still pales in comparison to the thousands of innocent civilians who die in Iraq every month.

The so-called unity government that our troops are dying to uphold there is being enforced by officially sanctioned militias that more accurately resemble Hezbollah than any government security force and makes a mockery of any notion that the Iraqi people are living under a democracy with equitable rule of law. And even as the White House seeks to distance itself from its long standing slogan of "stay the course" and reframe it as "adapt and win," its failing strategy nonetheless remains the same.

One clear fact emerges out of the confusion. The world cannot afford to allow the Bush administration to continue to ply its ill-advised fantastical policies that negate desirable tactical outcomes in the international arena in favor of political considerations at home. And it's up to reality-based Americans to stop them at the ballot box in November by restoring the balance of power on Capitol Hill.